$  $ 


1$ 


ON  THE 


ORIGIN 


OF 


FREE-MASONRY. 


BY  THOMAS  PAIME, 


POSTHUMOUS  WORK 


NE  WYORK : 

PRINTED   AND    SOLD    BY   ELLIOT   AND  CRISSTr 
NO.  114  WALTER-STREET. 

'i8ia 


District  of  New-York>  83. 

BE  it  Remembered,  ihal  on  the  14th  day 
of  September,  in  the  thirty-fifth  yeas  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  Margaret  B.  Bonneville,  of  the  said  District,  has  depo- 
sited in  this  Office,  the  Title  of  a  Book,  the  right  whereof  she  claims  as 
proprietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  n  it : 

"  On  the  Origin  of  Free-Masonry.     By  Thomas  Paine." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled, 
(C  An  Act  for  the  Encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of 
Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies, 
during  the  times  therein  mentioned,"  and  also  to  an  act,  entitled  "  An 
Act  supplementary  to  an  act  for  the  Encouragement  of  Learning,  by  se- 
curing the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books  to  the  authors  and  propri- 
etors of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,  and  extending 
the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  Designing,  Engraving,  and  Etching 
Historical  and  other  Prints." 

CHS.  CLINTON,  Clerk  of  Ike  Distnct  of  Ncw-Y&rk. 


0.N    THE 


ORIGIN 


FREE-MASONRY. 

It  is  always  understood  that  Free-Masons  have 
a  secret  which  they  carefully  conceal;  but  from 
every  thing  that  can  be  collected  from  their  own 
accounts  of  Masonry  their  real  secret  is  no  other 
than  their  origin,  which  but  few  of  them  under- 
stand; and  those  who  do,  envelope  it  in  mystery. 

The  society  of  Masons  are  distinguished  into 
three  classes  or  degrees.  1st,  the  Entered  Ap- 
prentice. 2d,  the  Fellow  Craft.  3d,  the  Mas- 
ter-Mason. 


4  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

The  entered  apprentice  knows  but  little  more 
of  Masonry  than  the  use  of  signs  and  tokens, 
and  certain  steps  and  words,  by  which  Masons 
can  recognise  each  other,  without  being  dis- 
covered by  a  person  who  is  not  a  mason.  The 
fellow- craft  is  not  much  better  instructed  in  ma- 
sonry than  the  entered  apprentice.  It  is  only  in 
the  Master- Mason's  Lodge  that  whatever  know- 
ledge remains  of  the  origin  of  masonry  is  pre-* 
served  and  concealed. 

In  1730,  Samuel  Pritchard,  member  of  a  con- 
stituted lodge  in  England,  published  a  treatise 
entitled  Masonry  Dissected;  and  made  oath  be* 
fore  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  that  it  was  a 
true  copy. 

Samuel  Pritchard  maketh  oath  that  the  copy 
hereunto  annexed  is  a  true  and  genuine  copy  in 
every  particular. 

In  his  work  he  has  given  the  catechism,  or 
examination  in  question  and  answer,  of  the  ap- 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  6 

prentice,  the  fellow-craft  and  the  Master  Mason. 
There  was  no  difficulty  in  his  doing  this  as  it  is 
mere  form.  . 

In  his  introduction  he  says,  "  The  original  in- 
stitution of  masonry  consisted  in  the  foundation 
of  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences,  but  more  espe- 
cially on  Geometry;  for  at  the  building  of 
the  Tower  of  Babel  the  art  and  mystery  of  Ma- 
sonry was  first  introduced,  and  from  thence 
handed  down  by  Euclid,  a  worthy  and  excellent 
Mathematician  of  the  Egyptians ;  and  he  com- 
municated it  to  Hiram,  the  Master  Mason  con- 
cerned in  building  Solomon's  Temple  in  Jeru- 
salem." 

Besides  the  absurdity  of  deriving  masonry 
from  the  building  of  Babel,  where,  according 
to  the  story,  the  confusion  of  languages  prevent- 
ed builders  understanding  each  other,  and  conse- 
quently of  communicating  any  knowledge  they 
had,  there  is  a  glaring  contradiction  in  point  of 
chronology  in  the  account  he  gives. 


6.  UN  THE  ORIGIN 

Solomon's  Temple  was  built  and  dedicated 
1004  years  before  the  christian  era;  and  Euclid, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  tables  of  chronology,  lived 
277  years  before  the  same  era.  It  was  there- 
fore impossible  that  Euclid  could  communicate 
any  thing  to  Hiram,  since  Euclid  did  not  live 
till  700  years  after  the  time  of  Hiram. 

In  1783  captain  George  Smith,  inspector  of 
the  Royal  Artillery  Academy,  at  Woolwich,  in 
England,  and  Provincial  Grand  Master  of  Ma- 
sonry for  the  county  of  Kent,  published  a  treatise 
entitled  The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Free -Masonry, 

In  his  chapter  of  the  antiquity  of  masonry  he 
makes  it  to  be  coeval  with  creation,  "  When, 
says  he,  the  sovereign  architect  raised  on  masonic 
principles,  the  beauteous  globe,  and  commanded 
that  master  science,  Geometry,  to  lay  the  plane- 
tary world,  and  to  regulate  by  its  laws  the 
whole  stupendous  system  in  just  unerring  pro- 
portion, rolling  round  the  centra!  sun.5,1 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  7 

iZ  But,  continues  he,  I  am  not  at  liberty  pub- 
licly to  undraw  the  curtain,  and  openly  to  des- 
cant on  this  head,  it  is  sacred,  and  ever  will 
remain  so;  those  who  are  Honoured  with  the 
trust  will  not  reveal  it,  and  those  who  are  ignor- 
ant of  it  cannot  betray  it,"  By  this  last  part  of 
the  phrase,  Smith  means  the  two  inferior  classes, 
the  fellow-craft  and  the  entered  apprentice,  for 
he  says  in  the  next  page  of  his  work,  "  It  is  not 
every  one  that  is  barely  initiated  into  Free- Ma- 
sonry that  is  entrusted  with  all  the  mysteries 
thereto  belonging;  they  are  not  attainable  las 
things  of  course,  nor  by  every  capacity." 

The  learned  but  unfortunate  Doctor  Dodd, 
Grand  Chaplain  of  Masonry,  in  his  oration  at 
the  dedication  of  Free-Mason's  Hall,  London, 
traces  Masonry  through  a  variety  of  stages. 
Masons,  says  he,  are  well  informed  from  their 
own  private  and  interior  records  that  the  build- 
ing of  Solomon's  Temple  is  an  important  era, 
from  whence  they  derive  many  mysteries  of  their 
art.    "  Now,  says  he,  be  it  remembered  that  this 


3  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

great  event  took  place  above  1000  years  before 
The  Christian  era,  and  consequently  more  than 
a  century  before  Homer,  the  first  of  the  Grecian 
Poets,  wrote;  and  above  five  centuries  before 
Pythagoras  brought  from  the  east  his  sublime 
system  of  truly  masonic  instruction  to  illuminate 
our  western  world. 

"  But  remote  as  this  period  is,  we  date  not 
from  thence  the  commencement  of  our  art. 
For  though  it  might  owe  to  the  wise  and  glori- 
ous King  of  Israel,  some  of  its  many  mystic  forms 
and  hieroglyphic  ceremonies,  yet  certainly  the 
art  itself  is  coeval  with  man,  the  great  subject  of  it. 

"  We  trace,  continues  he,  its  footsteps  in  the 
most  distant,  the  most  remote  ages  and  nations 
of  the  world.  We  find  it  among  the  first  and 
most  celebrated  civilizers  of  the  East.  We 
deduce  it  regularly  from  the  first  astronomers  on 
the  plains  of  Chaldea,  to  the  wise  and  mystic 
kings  and  priests  of  Egypt,  the  sages  of  Greece, 
and  the  philosophers  of  Rome." 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  9 

From  these  reports  and  declarations  of  Masons 
of  the  highest  order  in  the  institution,  we  see 
that  Masonry,  without  publicly  declaring  so, 
lays  claim  to  some  divine  communication  from 
the  creator  in  a  manner  different  from,  and  un- 
connected with,  the  book  which  the  christians 
call  the  bible ;  and  the  natural  result  from  this 
is,  that  Masonry  is  derived  from  some  very  an- 
cient religion  wholly  independent  of,  and  uncon^ 
ftected  with  that  book. 

To  come  then  at  once  to  the  point,  Masonry 
(as  I  shall  shew  from  the  customs,  ceremonies, 
hieroglyphics  and  chronology  of  Masonry)  is 
derived,  and  is  the  remains  of,  the  religion  of 
the  ancient  Druids ;  who  like  the  magi  of  Persia 
and  the  priests  of  Heliopolis  in  Egypt,  were 
Priests  of  the  Sun.  They  paid  worship  to  this 
great  luminary,  as  the  great  visible  agent  of  a 
great  invisible  first  cause,  whom  they  styled, 
time  without  limits. 


In  Masonry  many  of  the  ceremonies  of  the 
B 


10  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

Druids  arc  preserved  in  their  original  state,  at 
least  without  any  parody.  With  them  the  sun 
is  still  the  sun ;  and  his  image,  in  the  form  of 
the  sun,  is  the  great  emblematical  ornament  of 
Masonic  Lodges  and  Masonic  dresses.  It  is  the 
central  figure  on  their  aprons,  and  they  wear  it 
also  pendant  on  the  breast  in  their  lodges  and  in 
their  processions. 

At  what  period  of  antiquity,  or  in  what  na- 
tion, this  religion  wras  first  established,  is  lost  in 
the  labyrinth  of  unrecorded  times.  It  is  gene- 
rally ascribed  to  the  ancient  Egyptians,  the 
Babylonians  and  Chaldeans,  and  reduced  after- 
wrards  to  a  system  regulated  by  the  apparent  pro- 
gress of  the  sun  through  the  12  signs  of  the 
Zodiac  by  Zoroaster  the  law- giver  of  Persia, 
from  whence  Pythagoras  brought  it  into  Greece, 
It  is  to  these  matters  Dr.  Dodd  refers  in  the 
passage  already  quoted  from  his  oration. 

The  worship  of  the  sun  as  the  great  visible 
agent  of  a  great  invisible  first  cause,  time  with- 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  1.1 

out  limits,  spread  itself  over  a  considerable  part 
of  Asia  and  Africa,  from  thence  to  Greece  and 
Rome,  through  all  ancient  Gaul  and  into  Britain 
and  Ireland. 

Smith,  in  his  chapter  on  the  Antiquity  of  Ma- 
sonry in  Britain,  says,  that,  "  Notwithstanding 
the  obscurity  which  envelopes  Masonic  history 
in  that  country,  various  circumstances  contri- 
bute to  prove  that  Free-Masonry  was  introdu- 
ced into  Britain  about  1030  years  before 
Christ." 

It  cannot  be  Masonry  in  its  present  state  that 
Smith  here  alludes  to.  The  Druids  flourished 
in  Britain  at  the  period  he  speaks  of,  and  it  is 
from  them  that  Masonry  is  descended.  Smith 
has  put  the  child  in  the  place  of  the  parent. 

It  sometimes  happens  ns  well  in  writing  as  in 
conversation  that  a  person  lets  slip  an  expression 
that  serves  to  unravel  what  he  intends  to  conceal, 
and  this  is  the  case  with  Smith,  for  in  the  same 


ON  THE  ORIGIN 

chapter  he  says,  "  The  Druids,  when  they  com- 
mitted  any  thing  to  writing,  used  the  Greek  al- 
phabet, and  I  am  bold  to  assert  that  the  most  per. 
feet  remains  of  the#  Druids'  rites  and  ceremonies 
are  preserved  in  the  customs  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Masons  that  are  to  be  found  existing  among 
mankind.  My  brethren,  says  he,  may  be  able 
lo  trace  them  with  greater  exactness  than  I  am 
at  liberty  to  explain  to  the  public," 

This  is  a  confession  from  a  Master  Mason  t 
without  intending  it  to  be  so  understood  by  the 
public,  that  Masonry  is  the  remains  of  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Druids;  the  reason  for  the  Masons 
keeping  this  a  secret  I  shall  explain  in  the  course 
of  this  work. 

As  the  study  and  contemplation  of  the  Creator 
in  the  works  of  the  creation  of  which  the  sun  as 
the  great  visible  agent  of  that  Being,  was  the 
visible  object  of  the  adoration  of  Druids,  all 
their  religious  rites  and  ceremonies  had  refer- 
ence to  the  apparent  progress  of  the  sun  through 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  13 

the  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  and  his  influence 
upon  the  earth.  The  Masons  adopt  the  same 
practices.  The  roof  of  their  Temples  or  Lodges 
is  ornamented  with  a  sun,  and  the  floor  is  a 
representation  of  the  variegated  face  of  the  earth, 
either  by  carpeting  or  Mosaic  Work. 

Free  Masons  Hall,  in  great  Queen-street,  Lin- 
colns  Inn  fields,  London,  is  a  magnificent  build- 
ing, and  cost  upwards  of  12,000  pounds  sterling. 
Smith,  in  speaking  of  this  building  says  (page 
152)  '•  The  roof  of  this  magnificent  Hall  is,  in 
all  probability  the  highest  piece  of  finished  ar- 
chitecture in  Europe.  In  the  center  of  this 
roof,  a  most  resplendent  sun  is  represented  in 
burnished  gold,  surrounded  with  the  12  signs  of 
the  Zodiac  with  their  respective  characters : 

Aries  fy^.  Libra  =z=. 

Taurus  &.  Scorpio  nt. 

Gemini  n .  Sagittarius  $  . 

Cancer  SB .  Capricornus  V^. 

Leo  Si.  Aquarius  £?. 

Virgo  n#.  Pisces  X«. 


14  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

"  After  giving  this  description  he  says,  "  The 
emblematical  meaning  of  the  sun  is  well  known 
to  the  enlightened  and  inquisitive  Free-Mason; 
and  as  the  real  sun  is  situated  in  the  center  of 
the  universe,  so  the  emblematical  sun  is  the 
center  of  real  Masonry.  We  all  know,  con- 
tinues he,  that  the  sun  is  the  fountain  of  light, 
the  source  of  the  seasons,  the  cause  of  the  vi- 
cissitudes of  day  and  night,  the  parent  of  vegeta- 
tion, the  friend  of  man;  hence  the  scientific 
Free-Mason  only  knows  the  reason  why  the 
sun  is  placed  in  the  center  of  this  beautiful  hall.'*- 

The  masons,  in  order  to  protect  themselves 
from  the  persecution  of  the  christian  church, 
have  always  spoken  in  a  mystical  manner  of  the 
figure  of  the  sun  in  their  lodges,  or,  like  the 
astronomer  Lalande,  who  is  a  mason,  been  si- 
lent upon  the  subject. 

The  Lodges  of  the  Masons,  if  built  for  the 
purpose,  are  constructed  in  a  manner  to  corres- 
pond with  the  apparent  motion  of  the  sun.    They 


OF  FREE  MASONRY.  15 

are  situated  East  and  West.  The  Master's 
place  is  always  in  the  East.  In  the  examination 
of  an  Entered  Apprentice,  the  Master,  among 
many  other  questions  asks  him, 

Q.     How  is  the  Lodge  situated  ? 

A.     East  and  West. 

Q.     Why  so? 

A.  Because  all  churches  and  chapels  are  or 
ought  to  be  so. 

This  answrer,  which  is  mere  catechismal  form', 
is  not  an  answer  to  the  question.  It  does  no 
more  than  remove  the  question  a  point  further, 
which  is,  why  ought  all  churches  and  chapels 
to  be  so?  But  as  the  Entered  Apprentice  is  not 
initiated  into  the  druidical  mysteries  of  Masonry, 
he  is  not  asked  any  questions  to  which  a  direct 
answer  would  lead  thereto. 

Q.     Where  stands  your  Master? 

A.     In  the  East. 

Q.     Why  so? 

A.  As  the  sun  rises  in  the  East  and  opens- 
the  day,  -so  the  Master  stands  in  the  East  (with. 


16  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

his  right  hand  upon  his  left  breast,  being  a  sign, 
and  the  square  about  his  neck)  to  open  the  lod$ 
ftnd  set  his  men  at  work. 

Q.     Where  stand  your  Wardens? 

A.     In  the  West. 

Q.     What  is  their  business  ? 

A.  As  the  sun  sets  in  the  West  to  close  the 
Jay,  so  the  Wardens  stand  in  the  west  (with 
their  right  hands  upon  their  left  breasts,  being 
a  sign,  and  the  level  and  plumb,  rule  about  their 
necks)  to  close  the  lodge,  and  dismiss  the  men 
from  labour,  paying  them  their  wages. 

Here  the  name  of  the  sun  is  mentioned,  but 
it  is  proper  to  observe,  that  in  this  place  it  has 
reference  only  to  labour  or  to  the  time  of  labour, 
and  not  to  any  religious  druidical  rite  or  cere- 
mony, as  it  would  have  with  respect  to  the 
situation  of  Lodges  East  and  West.  I  have  alrea- 
dy observed  in  the  chapter  on  the  origin  of  the 
christian  religion,  that  the  situation  of  churches 
East  and  West  is  taken  from  the  worship  of 


OF  FREEMASONRY.  W 

the  sun  which  rises  in  the  East.  The  christians 
never  bury  their  dead  on  the  north  side  of  a 
church ;  and  a  Mason's  Lodge  always  has,  or 
is  supposed  to  have,  three  windows,  which  are 
called  fixed  lights,  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  moveable  lights  of  the  sun  and  the  moon. 
The  Master  asks  the  Entered  Apprentice 

Q.     How  are  they  (the  fixed  lights)  situated? 

A.     East,  west,  and  south. 

Q.     What  are  their  uses  ? 

A.     To  light  the  men  to  and  from  their  work. 

Q.     Why  are  there  no  lights  in  the  North  ? 

A.  Because  the  sun  darts  no  rays  from 
thence. 

This  among  numerous  other  instances  shews 
that  the  christian  religion  and  Masonry  have  one 
and  the  same  common  origin,  the  ancient  wor- 
ship of  the  sun. 

The  high  festival  of  the  masons  is  on  the  day 

they  call  St.  John's  day  ;  but  every  enlightened 

mason  must  know  that  holding  their  festival  on 
C 


IS  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

this  day  has  no  reference  to  the  person  called  St.. 
John,  and  that  it  is  only  to  disguise  the  true 
cause  of  holding  it  on  this  day,  that  they  call 
the  day  by  that  name.  As  there  were  Masons, 
or  at  least  Druids,  many  centuries  before  die 
time  of  St.  John,  if  such  person  ever  existed, 
the  holding  their  festival  on  this  day  must  refer 
to  some  cause  totally  unconnected  with  John, 

The  case  is,  that  the  day  called  St.  John's  day 
is  the  24th  of  June,  and  is  what  is  called  midsum- 
mer day.  The  sun  is  then  arrived  at  the  sum- 
mer solstice,  and  with  respect  to  his  meridional 
altitude,  or  height  at  high  noon,  appear  for  some 
days  to  be  of  the  same  height.  The  astronomi- 
cal longest  day,  like  the  shortest  day,  is  not 
every  year,  on  account  of  Leap  year,  on  the  same 
numerical  day,  and  therefore  the  24th  of  June  is 
always  taken  for  midsummer  day;  and  it  is  in 
honour  of  the  sun,  which  has  then  arrived  at  his 
greatest  height  in  our  hemisphere,  and  not  any 
thing  with  respect  to  St.  John,  that  this  annual 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  19 

festival  of  the  Masons,  taken  from  the  Druids, 
is  celebrated  on  midsummer  day. 

Customs  will  often  outlive  the  remembrance 
of  their  origin,  and  this  is  the  case  with  respect 
to  a  custom  still  practised  in  Ireland,  where  the 
Druids  flourished  at  the  time  they  flourished  in 
Britain.  On  the  eve  of  St.  John's  day,  that  is, 
on  the  eve  of  midsummer  day,  the  Irish  light 
fires  on  the  tops  of  the  hills.  This  can  have  no 
reference  to  St.  John ;  but  it  has  emblemati- 
cal reference  to  the  sun  which  on  that  day  is  at 
his  highest  summer  elevation,  and  might  in 
common  language  be  said  to  have  arrived  at  the 
top  of  the  hill. 

As  to  what  masons  and  books  of  masonry  tell 
us  of  Solomon's  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  it  is  no 
ways  improbable  that  some  masonic  ceremonies 
may  have  been  derived  from  the  building  of  that 
Temple,  for  the  worship  of  the  sun  was  in  prac- 
tice many  centuries  before  the  temple  existed, 
or  before  the  Israelites  came  out  of  Egypt.    And 


S3  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

we  learn  from  the  history  of  the  Jewish  Kings, 
2  Kings,  chap.  22, 23,  that  the  worship  of  the  sun 
was  performed  by  the  Jews  in  that  temple.  It  is, 
however,  much  to  be  doubted,  if  it  was  done 
with  the  same  scientific  purity  and  religious  mo- 
rality, with  which  it  was  performed  by  the 
Druids,  who  by  all  accounts  that  historically  re- 
main of  them,  were  a  wise,  learned  and  moral 
class  of  men.  The  Jews,  on  the  contrary,  were 
ignorant  of  astronomy,  and  of  science  in  general, 
and  if  a  religion  founded  upon  astronomy,  fell  into 
their  hands,  it  is  almost  certain  it  would  be  cor- 
rupted. We  do  not  read  in  the  history  of  the 
Jews,  whether  in  the  bible  or  elsewhere,  that 
they  were  the  inventors  or  the  improvers  of  any 
one  art  or  science.  Even  in  the  building  of  this 
temple,  the  Jews  did  not  know  how  to  square 
and  frame  the  timber  for  beginning  and  carrying 
on  the  work,  and  Solomon  was  obliged  to  send 
to  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  (Zidon)  to  procure 
workmen;  " for  thou  knonvest,  (says  Solomon 
to  Hiram)  1  Kings,  chap.  5,  v.  6)  that  there  is 
not  among  us  any  that  can  skill  to  hem  timber 


OP  FREE-MASONRY.  21 

like  unto  the  Zidonians."  This  Temple  was 
more  properly  Hiram's  Temple  than  Solomon's, 
and  if  the  Masons  derive  any  thing  from  the 
building  of  it,  they  owe  it  to  the  Zidonians  and 
not  to  the  Jews. — But  to  return  to  the  worship 
of  the  sun  in  this  Temple. 

It  is  said,  2  kings,  chap.  23,  v.  5,  "  and  King 
Josiah  put  down  all  the  Idolatrous  priests  that 
burned  incence  unto  the  sun,  the  moon,  the 
planets  and  to  all  the  host  of  heaven." — And  it 
is  said  at  the  11th  v.  M  and  he  took  away  the 
horses  that  the  kings  of  Judah  had  given  to  the 
sun  at  the  entering  in  of  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
and  burned  the  chariots  of  the  sun  with  fire,  v. 
13,  and  the  high  places  that  were  before  Jerusa- 
lem, which  were  on  the  right  hand  of  the  mount 
of  corruption,  which  Solomon  the  king  of  Israel 
had  builded  for  Astoreth,  the  abomination  of  the 
Zidonians  (the  very  people  that  built  the  temple) 
did  the  king  defile. 

Besides  these   things,  the   description   that 


22  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

Josephus  gives  of  the  decorations  of  this  Tem- 
ple, resemble  on  a  large  scale,  those  of  a  Ma- 
son's Lodge.  He  says  that  the  distribution  of 
the  several  parts  of  the  Temple  of  the  Jews 
represented  all  nature,  particularly  the  parts  most 
apparent  of  it,  as  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  planets, 
the  zodiac,  the  earth,  the  elements,  and  that 
the  system  of  the  world  was  retraced  there  by 
numerous  ingenious  emblems.  These,  in  all 
probability,  are  what  Josiah,  in  his  ignorance, 
calls  the  abomination  of  the  Zidonians.*  Every 
tiling,  however,  drawn  from  this  Templef  and 

*  Smith  in  speaking  of  a  Lodge  says,  when  the  Lodge  is 
revealed  to  an  entering  Mason,  it  discovers  to  him  a  represen- 
tation of  the  World;  in  which  from  the  wonders  of  nature 
we  are  led  to  contemplate  her  great  original,  and  worship 
him  from  his  mighty  works;  and  we  are  thereby  also  moved 
to  exercise  those  moral  and  social  virtues  which  become 
mankind  as  the  servants  of  the  great  Architect  of  the  world. 

t  It  may  not  be  improper  here  to  observe,  that  the  law 
called  the  law  of  Moses,  could  not  have  been  in  existence  at 
the  time  of  building  this  Temple.  Here  is  the  likeness  of 
things  in  heaven  above,  and  in  earth  beneath.  And  we  read 
in  1  Kings,  chap.  6,  7.  that  Solomon  made  cherubs  and 
cherubims,  that  he  carved  all  the  walls  of  the  house  round 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  23 

applied  to  Masonry,  still  refers  to  the  worship 
of  the  sun,  however  corrupted  or  misunderstood 
by  the  Jews,  and  consequently  to  the  religion 
of  the  Druids. 

Another  circumstance  which  shews  that  Ma- 
sonry is  derived  from  some  ancient  system, 
prior  to,  and  unconnected  with,  the  christian  re- 
ligion, is  the  chronology,  or  method  of  counting 
time,  used  by  the  Masons  in  the  records  of  their 
Lodges.  They  make  no  use  of  what  is  called 
the  christian  era,  and  they  reckon  their  months 
numerically  as  the  ancient  Egyptians  did,  and 
as  the  Quakers  do  now.  I  have  by  me  a  re- 
cord of  a  French  Lodge  at  the  time  the  late 
Duke  of  Orleans,  then  Duke  de  Chartres  was 
Grand  Master  of  Masonry  in  France.  It  begins 
as  follows : 


about  with  cherubims  and  palm-trees,  and  open  flowers,  and 
that  he  made  a  molten  sea,  placed  on  twelve  oxen,  and  that 
the  ledges  of  it  were  ornamented  with  lions,  oxen  and 
cherubims;  all  this  is  contrary  to  the  law  called  the  law  of 
Moses. 


24  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

"  Le  trentieme  jour  du  sixieme  mots  de  Van  de 
la  V.  L.  cinq  mil  septcent  soixante  treize"  that 
is,  The  thirtieth  day  of  the  sixth  month  of  the 
year  of  the  venerable  Lodge,  five  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-three.  By  what  I  observe 
in  English  books  of  Masonry,  the  English  Ma- 
sons use  the  initials  A.  L.  and  not  V.  L.  By  A. 
L.  they  mean  in  the  year  of  the  Lodge,  as  the 
christians  by  A.  D.  mean  in  the  year  of  the 
Lord.  But  A.  L.  like  V.  L.  refers  to  the  same 
chronological  era,  that  is,  to  the  supposed  time 
of  the  Creation. 

Though  the  Masons  have  taken  many  of  their 
ceremonies  and  hieroglyphics  from  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  it  is  certain  they  have  not  taken  their 
chronology  from  thence.  If  they  had,  the 
church  would  soon  have  sent  them  to  the  stake ; 
as  the  chronology  of  the  Egyptians,  like  that  of 
the  Chinese,  goes  many  thousand  years  beyond 
the  bible  chronology. 

The  religion  of  the  Druids,  as  before  said, 


OF  FREE -MASONRY.  25 

was  the  same  as  the  religion  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians*  The  priests  of  Egypt  were  the 
professors  and  teachers  of  science,  and  were 
styled  priests  of  Heliopolis,  that  is,  of  the  city 
of  the  sun.  The  Druids  in  Europe,  who  were 
the  same  order  of  men,  have  their  name  from  the 
Teutonic  or  ancient  German  language;  the  Ger- 
mans being  anciently  called  Teutones,  The 
word  Druid  signifies  a  wise  man.  In  Persia  they 
were  called  magi,  which  signifies  the  same  thing* 

"  Egypt,  says  Smith,  from  whence  we  derive 
many  of  our  mysteries,  hath  always  borne  a  dis- 
tinguished rank  in  history,  and  was  once  cele- 
brated above  all  others  for  its  antiquities,  learn- 
ing, opulence,  and  fertility.  In  their  system, 
their  principal  hero-gods,  Osiris  and  Isis,  theo* 
logically  represented  the  supreme  Being  and 
universal  Nature  ;  and  physically,  the  two  great 
celestial  luminaries,  the  sun  and  the  moon,  by 
whose  influence  all  nature  was  actuated.  The 
experienced  brethren  of  the  society  (says  Smith 

in  a  note  to  this  passage)  are  well  informed  what 
D 


26  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

affinity  these   symbols  bear  to  Masonry,    and 
why  they  are  used  in  all  Masonic  Lodges." 

In  speaking  of  the  apparel  of  the  Mafcons  in 
their  Lodges,  part  of  whieh,  as  we  see  in  their 
public  processions,  is  a  white  leather  apron,  he 
says,  "  the  Druids  were  apparelled  in  white  at 
the  time  of  their  sacrifices  and  solemn  offices. 
The  Egyptian  Priests  of  Osiris  wore  snow- 
white  cotton.  The  Grecian  and  most  other 
priests  wore  white  garments.  As  Masons,  we 
regard  the  principles  of  those  who  were  the  first 
worshippers  of  the  true  God,  imitate  their  ap- 
parel, and  assume  the  badge  of  innocence. 

"The  Egyptians,  continues  Smith,  in  the 
earliest  ages,  constituted  a  great  number  of 
Lodges,  but  with  assiduous  care  kept  their 
secrets  of  Masonry  from  all  strangers.  These 
secrets  have  been  imperfectly  handed  down  to 
us  by  oral  tradition  only,  and  ought  to  be  kept 
undiscovered  to  the  labourers,  crafts-men,  and 
apprentices,  till  by  good  behaviour,  and  long 


OF  FREE-MASONRY,  # 

study,  they  become  better  acquainted  in  Geo- 
metry and  the  liberal  arts,  and  thereby  qualified 
for  Masters  and  Wardens,  which  is  seldom  or 
ever  the  case  with  English  Masons." 

Under  the  head  of  Free-Masonry,  written  by 
the  astronomer  Lalande,  in  the  French  Encyclo- 
pedia, I  expected  from  his  great  knowledge  in 
astronomy,  to  have  found  much  information  on 
the  origin  of  Masonry  ;  for  what  connection  can 
there  be  between  any  institution  and  the  sun  and 
twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  if  there  be  not  some- 
thing in  that  institution,  or  in  its  origin,  that  has 
reference  to  astronomy.  Every  thing  used  as  an 
hieroglyphic,  has  reference  to  the  subject  and 
purpose  for  which  it  is  used;  and  we  are  not  to 
suppose  the  Free- Masons,  among  whom  are 
many  very  learned  and  scientific  men,  to  be  such 
idiots  as  to  make  use  of  astronomical  signs  with- 
out some  astronomical  purpose. 

But  I  was  much  disappointed  in  my  expecta- 
tion from  Lalande.     In  speaking  of  the  origin  of 


28  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

Masonry,  he  says  "  L? origin*  de  la  maqonerie  se 
perdy  comme  tant  d'autres,  dans  Vobscurite  des 
temps;"  that  is,  the  origin  of  masonry,  like  many 
others,  loses  itself  in  the  obscurity  of  time. 
When  I  came  to  this  expression,  I  supposed 
Lalande  a  Mason,  and  on  enquiry  found  he  was. 
This  passing  over  saved  him  from  the  embarrass- 
ment which  Masons  are  under  respecting  the 
disclosure  of  their  origin,  and  which  they  are 
sworn  to  conceal.  There  is  a  society  of  Masons 
in  Dublin  who  take  the  name  of  Druids;  these 
Masons  must  be  supposed  to  have  a  reason  for 
taking  that  name, 

I  come  now  to  speak  of  the  cause  of  secresy 
used  by  the  Masons. 

The  natural  source  of  secresy  is  fear.  When 
any  new  religion  over-runs  a  former  religion, 
the  professors  of  the  new  become  the  persecutors 
of  the  old.  We  see  this  in  all  the  instances  that 
history  brings  before  us.  When  Hilkiah  the 
Priest  and   Shaphan   the  scribe,   in  the  reign 


OF  FREE-MASONRY.  29 

of  king  Josiah,  found,  or  pretended  to  find,  the 
law,  called  the  law  of  Moses,  a  thousand  years 
after  the  time  of  Moses,  and  it  does  not  appear 
from  the  2d  Book  of  Kings,  chapters  22,  23, 
that  such  law  was  ever  practised  or  known  be- 
fore the  time  of  Josiah;  he  established  that  law 
as  a  national  religion,  and  put  all  the  priests  of 
the  sun  to  death.  When  the  christian  religion 
over-ran  the  Jewish  religion,  the  Jews  were  the 
continual  subject  of  persecution  in  all  christian 
countries.  When  the  Protestant  religion  in  Eng- 
land over-ran  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  it 
was  made  death  for  a  catholic  priest  to  be  found 
in  England.  As  this  has  been  the  case  in  all 
the  instances  we  have  any  knowledge  of,  we 
are  obliged  to  admit  it  with  respect  to  the 
case  in  question,  and  that  when  the  christian  re- 
ligion over-ran  the  religion  of  the  Druids  in  Italy, 
ancient  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Ireland,  the  Druids 
became  the  subject  of  persecution.  This  would 
naturally  and  necessarily  oblige  such  of  them  as 
remained  attached  to  their  original  religion  to 
meet  in  secret  and  under  the  strongest  injunc- 


30  ON  THE  ORIGIN,  &c. 

tions  of  secresy.  Their  safety  depended  upon  it, 
A  false  brother  might  expose  the  lives  of  many 
of  them  to  destruction ;  and  from  the  remains  of 
the  religion  of  the  Druids,  thus  preserved,  arose 
the  institution  which,  to  avoid  the  name  of 
Druid,  took  that  of  Mason,  and  practised,  under 
this  new  name,  the  rights  and  ceremonies  of 
Druids. 


1  I  n  i  s. 


*r- 


